Kim's Favorite Stories

Meeting my Grandmother

October 16, 2010
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I didn’t really get to know my Grandmother – my mother’s mother – until I was 26. It was my second occasion ever to see her. The whole story is quite complicated. My Grandmother Ruby left her family when my mother was 6 months old. She abandoned her 3 sons and husband to run off [...]

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The Basement

September 30, 2010
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Our basement was an integral part of my childhood.  It was the place in our home that I could get away from everyone and experience solitude. It was my time in my childhood to figure out who I was as a person with some genuine thinking and reflection. It was also a place to have [...]

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Saturday night

September 17, 2010

For a family that didn’t have much money (See My Dad – the Original Organic Farmer ), we sure did have fun on Saturday nights. Friday nights were taken up with football or basketball (See Football Boogie ). Saturday nights were reserved for playing cards or board games, sometimes with just our family, my aunt [...]

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Twinkle In His Eye

September 2, 2010
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I recognize fun. In the transition between a person’s thought and the first inkling that something spontaneous is about to happen, I am on full alert to participate. I’m drawn to it like a magnet. And if anyone else has that predisposition for fun, I can tell it in the first minute of meeting them. [...]

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The Great Neighborhood Water Fight

August 25, 2010
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They say Ohio is a great place to raise corn, pigs, and children. I absolutely loved the way that I grew up. The neighborhood was our playground, and the plethora of neighbor kids – who ALL owned bicycles – were our playmates. We didn’t take Family Vacations during our summer breaks, but every summer day [...]

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One Sure Thing

August 1, 2010
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We knew each other before we were born. Or so it seems. The way we think alike, our inherent understanding of each other, our imprint on each other’s souls has been there since the beginning of time. Our families lived 3 miles apart from each other when we were growing up in a little farming [...]

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The Expression on Grandma’s Face

June 30, 2010
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My paternal grandmother Edith married when she was 14, on October 4, 1911. Her husband – my grandfather, Harry – was 38, 24 years old years older than his bride.  My grandfather is the in the front row on the left. My grandmother, his new bride – is in the second row standing, second from [...]

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Family Vacations

June 1, 2010
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During my childhood, I only had 2 real family vacations. I have vivid memories of both of these vacations – I can remember the tiniest details of each trip. Traveling in the car through the countryside made quiet an impression on me. Other than visiting my mother’s brother in Indiana or going to Cedar Point [...]

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The Untold Story . . .

March 3, 2010
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For every story told in my family, there are innumerable mysteries. I wish I had asked more questions of my relatives when they were alive to get answers to those burning questions I have now. For instance, my father’s mother – the one who had 14 children (see Being a Middle Child, #7 of 14)- [...]

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Living on the Edge

October 11, 2009
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My mother grew up on the edge. It was the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, but it was in reality it was the edge of society. She was the youngest of 4 children in a one-parent family. Her father was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse and her mother spent a few years in prison [...]

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